This week, on August 18, Belarusian authorities raided the offices of the independent news agency independent BelaPAN and the homes of several of its staff members. The agency’s editor-in-chief, Iryna Leushyna; accountant Katsyaryna Boyeva; and former director Dzmitry Navazhylau were detained under suspicion of violating public order. As disturbing as these arrests are, they are […]

The International Press Institute (IPI) today expressed concern over the most recent discussions on a new bill that would criminalize the spreading of “fake news”. Initial details about the bill raise serious alarm about a further step forward in Turkey’s efforts to control media and information online. On August 18, 2021, Hüseyin Yayman, an MP […]

The undersigned organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today express serious concern over the Molotov cocktail attack on the home of journalist Willem Groeneveld in Groningen last night. We welcome the prompt response of the Dutch authorities to carry out a police investigation and we call on authorities to analyse the safety measures […]

We, the undersigned organisations, firmly condemn the Belarusian government’s rapidly escalating crackdown on Belarusian civil society and its increasingly brazen abuses of the Belarusian people’s right to freedom of expression and information. We further call on officials of the European Union, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the United Nations […]